Arvind Kejriwal released after being detained in Gujarat, slams Narendra Modi

Ahmedabad: After being released from detention, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday accused Bharatiya Janata Party`s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of being "anti-farmer" and "anti-common man".

The former Delhi chief minister was detained at a police station in Radhanpur in north Gujarat for 30 minutes.

The incident took place just hours after he began a four-day tour of Gujarat to test Modi`s claims that the state was a model of development.

"There is no development here," Kejriwal told the media and a large group of supporters even as several Modi backers waved black flags at him.

"Modi is anti-farmer, Modi is completely anti-common man," Kejriwal went on. "The only people who have benefited in Gujarat are industrialists."
Kejriwal also did not rule out an election face-off against Modi and said, "Let us see," about such a possibility.

He said Modi was making exaggerated claims of developing Gujarat while addressing election rallies across the country and was rattled because he (Kejriwal) was "exposing the tall claims".

An Aam Aadmi Party leader told a news agency that Kejriwal was detained allegedly on charges of violating the model code of conduct which came into effect after the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha election schedule.

The Kejriwal aide said the AAP founder leader was on his way when police stopped the motorcade.
Gujarat state AAP convenor Sukhdev Patel claimed that Kejriwal was detained, though the police denied it by saying that they had only "briefed" Kejriwal on the model code of conduct which came into force today after declaration of the poll schedule.

However, Kejriwal alleged that the police had acted after "orders from the top".

"We came to know in the morning itself that all District Superintendents of Police (DSPs) were instructed to stop Kejriwal under any circumstances. Modi also sent some people with black flags. We knew that they would resort to such tactics," Kejriwal said.

"They stopped us and claimed that we were violating the model code of conduct. I told them that none of our vehicles carried stickers or any symbol of our party. So, we were allowed to go," Kejriwal said.